The children’s charity Coram Voice is calling for entries for its annual creative writing competition for children in care and young care leavers.

The competition, now in its fourth year, is called Voices and it is dedicated to amplifying the voices of children in care and care leavers by giving them a platform to write and be heard in a creative and expressive way. To get a feel of what Voices is all about see an amazing new animation of one of the 2018 entries from care leaver Abbey, click here.

This year’s theme is ‘Growing Up’, and children in care and care leavers are invited to write any piece on this under 500 words. This can be anything from a short story, poem, rap or song. We’re always incredibly impressed and moved by the writing we receive, and can’t wait to read the entries this year.

Entries can be submitted until the competition closing date on 10 February 2019 and there are four age categories: Primary School, Lower Secondary (11-14), Upper Secondary (15-18) and care leavers. Shortlisted entrants will be invited to an awards ceremony and have their writing published in a special book which will showcase their talent and achievements.

Last year was an incredible success and two of our 2018 competition runners up were presented to the Queen and had the opportunity to read their pieces aloud at the event. It was a wonderful experience for these young writers, many of whom have continued with their own writing projects.

The children’s charity is also appealing for help from organisations to promote the Voice 2019 in  blogs, magazines, newsletters, and websites as well as social media using @coramvoice  and #Voices2019.

For more information about  this year’s Voices competition click here